1. Who holds the record for receiving the most Oscars?

2. In what year were the Oscars first held?

3. What object does Billy Crystal always carry in his pocket when he hosts the Academy Awards?

4. What three movies hold the record for the most Oscars (11)?

5. What Academy Award winning director directed both his father and his daughter in Oscar winning performances?

6. Name the current record holders for most nominations in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories.

7. The Academy Awards ceremony has been postponed 3 times in its history of airing (1938, 1968, 1981). What 3 events
caused the postponements?

Click here for the answers!

ColorFall is a creative play toy imagined and designed by my project partner, Brad Hoffman, and myself. We first got connected with Marbles this past fall as they hosted a design contest for our Product Design class at Columbia College Chicago. Marbles challenged us to work in teams to develop a product for their 2012 line. The toys that we developed would be judged on how well they fit with the Marbles philosophy, both brain beneficial and fun.

Our project was inspired by a set of domino tiles that I had as a child and the unique way in which I would play with them. I remember using the tiles to set up small shapes such as flowers and the sun as part of my domino runs. This memory motivated us to develop a set of high quality wooden tiles in various colors that will encourage creative play in a “color-by-number” presentation.

ColorFall is set to provide 20 design cards, which will challenge users to create the pattern they see on the card in full scale by lining up the tiles on any flat surface. Only once the entire ColorFall run is set up can the starter tile be pushed over, setting off a chain reaction to reveal a mosaic work of art!

This type of play exercises the parietal lobe, which is concerned with information about spatial relationships, perception and magnitude. It also works to build or rebuild small motor skills and teaches patience.

After 15 weeks of development, working off of constant feedback from the creative team at Marbles, we presented our toys for a final review. The competition was tight and there were some awesome concepts generated by many of our classmates (keep a look out for How to Make a Cowboy Take a Bath, developed by James Schmidt and Winslow Harte, set to release later this year). In the end, ColorFall was chosen by a panel of Marbles staff as the winning design and we were awarded with a cash prize, internship in the Marbles Brain Workshop, and the thrilling opportunity to see our “brain baby” end up on Marbles shelves.

Brad and I are currently working with the rest of the Brain Workshop team to finish developing ColorFall. We have currently included such designs as The Eiffel Tower, A Garden Gnome, and a Liger. It was our hope from the beginning that ColorFall would inspire it’s users to create designs from their own imaginations. In that spirit, we would like to open up an invitation to submit your own ideas for the next great mosaic masterpiece to be included on the ColorFall design cards.

So let Colorfall tiles be your paint and the world of flat surfaces be your canvas! Exercise your visual perception, small motor coordination, and creative muscles by creating works of mosaic art that appear only once you knock them down. Be sure to keep your eyes out for ColorFall at your local Marbles: The Brain Store or online and “like” Marbles: The Brain Store on Facebook for additional ColorFall news and designs!

Flag with the tiles up

The finished project!

The good news for those of us who typically opt for mental stimulus over physical is that there is an amazing array of equally nerdy ways to elevate our coordination skills and help our brains get even bulkier. Astrojax, Kiwido and Myachi – for example – are so much fun that it is hard to believe that they also provide mental and physical workouts. Each of this trio of fun little toys consists of a simple mechanism that can be manipulated to perform all manner of challenging and impressive tricks. Not unlike the yo-yo, these toys take a simple idea and quickly amp it up through the impressive maneuvers to greatly increase physical and mental coordination. Along with being immensely fun, Astrojax, Kiwido and Myachi each stimulate areas of our brains that don’t get a whole lot of love from other activities.

Another strong candidate for getting yourself outside and stimulating your mind and body is the ever-popular Ogosport Discs. These simple hand trampolines offer another rudimentary mechanism through which play can be customized to provide your body with much needed workouts while you’re running around, chasing after the ball. At the same time, you will be stimulating the creativity centers of your brain as you create new and fun games to play with the Ogosport Discs. This way you are giving multiple areas of your brain and your whole body a real work out.

Even if you – like me – would much rather spend your time breaking a mental sweat, there are plenty of extremely nerdy ways to keep yourself physically active. Not only do these nerdy activities help you to keep your geeky credibility, but it also helps to stimulate your brain in new and healthy ways. It would be safe to say that you cannot call yourself the greatest of all nerds unless you give your brain the all-around workout, and stimulate those hard-to-reach places.

Now’s your chance to submit your concepts for our annual game design competition! There are just a few design criteria that your idea needs to meet, which are:

• Brain beneficial – make it spark a synapse

• Seconds to learn, years to master – explain it in 30 seconds, play it for a lifetime

• Enjoyable by all ages

• Unique – non-ubiquitous

• Of heirloom quality – think Quarto, Linja, Buckyballs, etc.

• Fun – but of course!

Still stumped?  Check out our website for current products and brainy categories, who knows what may inspire an idea.  Or check out Lutso, a winning game for last year’s competition invented by Marbles’ very own, Ryan Jedlicka

For all official rules and submission forms click here. The contest begins today, February 16 and ends March 16. We’ll choose the top 3 designs and from there the winner will be voted on by our very own customers!

The winner will be announced March 23.  We can’t wait to see what your brains are brewin’!

Marbles: The Brain Store:  How do you come up with new game ideas? Do you work as a team of designers, or do you come up with ideas on your own?

Thierry Denoual: I mainly work alone in the creative stage, and then I work closely with the Blue Orange marketing team to finalize the themes and the rules of the games.

Marbles: What are 2 trends that excite you?

Julien Mayot : First, going back to basics: simple things are coming back and will never be out of fashion. Spend real time with friends: shut down your TV, your computer and Facebook, call six friends and organize a board game night.

Second, durability: yes recycled is good, how about products that last? A metal water bottle won’t need to be recycled. The same way, every product we make is made to be durable so it does not end up in a garbage: we use solid materials such as resin, tin, wood, every game has a lid (so you do not lose parts) or a pouch to keep pieces all together. We print instructions on the game box so you’re always ready to play. And our cardboard boxes are made of recycled cardboard, we plant two trees for every tree used in game construction and we use non-petroleum based plastic for 95% of our plastics (mostly a resin called urea).

Marbles:  What career path did you originally envision for yourself? Did you ever anticipate working with children’s products?

Denoual: I have always been interested in creating things. Games represent an endless outlet for a creative mind, so I feel very comfortable in it. Working with children’s product helps me stay young at heart.

Marbles: What do you think is the key to creating a successful, popular game?

Denoual: You have to come up with simple, easy to learn and easy to play concepts that are also fun. Then you need to develop an excellent marketing around them.

Marbles: What were the top two or three most significant obstacles you had to overcome to achieve success and how did you do it?

Denoual: You have to feel the market to adjust your initial idea into a sellable item. You cannot just come up with a good idea. A lot of good ideas go to waste because they are not well marketed. This is the main obstacle: being able to match the creative process, which is very free, with the marketing aspect, which responds to very strict rules and demands.

Marbles: What inspires you?

Mayot: I get inspiration traveling from toy store to toy store. Consumers and store owners give me ideas that I put into new products. Children are always the most creative and have given me my best business ideas!

Allow us to introduce ourselves…

I’m Austin, the voice of the blog. Alongside me is; Scott, Josh, Vickie, and interns Chrissy and Brad; all of us acting as idea generators and play connoisseurs.  We’ve started this development blog to share our ideas and have you take part in the development process. Every week will be a new post about what’s going on within the workshop including ideas, inspirations, sketches, models, and everything else involved in the design process.  Please feel free to give us feedback, the more collaborative the better!

Another exciting event to stay tuned for is our annual Marbles Design Contest open to the public.  More information will be released next week!

Stay tuned for weekly updates into our brains and a walk through of our sweet new Workshop!

One of my favorite aspects of Abalone, as opposed to many other strategy games, is the number of directions in which players must think. Most other games, chess included, are predominantly played in two directions; most of the action is concentrated in moving forward and backwards, with a little side to side thrown in the mix. Abalone, however, forces players to pay attention to six different directions at once, allowing for the subversion of an opponent’s strategy by simply sideswiping the attack. Another wonderful characteristic of Abalone is how quickly players must adapt their strategies; the multi-dimensionality of the game actually makes this possible. Once an opponent has successfully countered an attack, it is simple for a player to redirect the game’s momentum along a different line.

Not only is it a very fun game, but Abalone also provides players with a strenuous mental workout. The fast-paced adaptability of the game forces players to utilize and strengthen their attention and concentration skills. As the board’s layout continuously shifts, players must continuously follow it and adapt their strategy accordingly. Another benefit that comes from playing Abalone is developing strategic planning abilities. Much like in chess, experienced players will learn how to foresee the affects of their moves to plan ahead, anticipating their opponents and capitalizing on the outcome. With both the frequently fluctuating board and the high need for strategic fore-planning comes the need for mental flexibility; just as quickly as plans form, they can be destroyed by an opponent’s single move. Players must keep on their toes and continuously adapt to their game plans to come out on top.

All in all, Abalone provides players with a complex and versatile cognitive challenge. Its multi-dimensional board provides several directions in which to focus attacks, but also provides multiple fronts that must be defended. Abalone is also a fast-paced game, in which every move alters the board’s layout, forcing players to get mentally limber and ramp up their concentration. Abalone stands among the competition as a highly enjoyable and heavily demanding strategy game.

I’m always intrigued by books that explain why we do the things we do.  Ever wonder why when you fall in love your behavior becomes so erratic and you feel like you are going crazy?  Evidently, there is an explanation.   Dr. Amen also offers explanations for why we feel the way we do during breakups, as well as suggestions on how to survive them.   In this book, Amen delves into what happens chemically in the brain when we are in love.  Sometimes knowing that there is a chemical/biological reason for these feelings makes them easier to bear.

In his clinical work, Dr. Amen focuses on brain imbalances and how they can affect our life.  He uses a combination of brain imaging, counseling, holistics, and medication to treat his patients.  In The Brain in Love he shows how these imbalances can also affect our relationships.  Sometimes problems in relationships can have underlying neurochemical problems.  The book discusses how issues like ADD, PMS and mood disorders can negatively impact marital and sexual health and create conflict in your domestic life. Gaining awareness and finding solutions to these problems can help salvage sinking relationships.

Whether you’re struggling in a relationship, looking to enhance one or just interested in learning more about human behavior, this is an interesting and insightful read on the brain’s role in sex and love.

My Calm Beat is a great biofeedback tool that can help you manage your stress response.  Using your computer and an ear sensor, My Calm Beat’s software allows you to monitor your breathing rate and your heart rate variability (HRV).  Your HRV is the variation of intervals between your heart beats.  A high HRV has been connected to resiliency during stressful situations.  By controlling your breathing rate, you can control your heart rate patterns. This in turn assists the brain in managing stress and improving performance.

Is your boss stressing you out?  Kids driving you crazy?  Have a big presentation to give?  These are perfect times to use My Calm Beat.  For long term effect, try using it for 10 minutes a day and retrain your mind and body to effectively handle stress.  My Calm Beat can also be used on your Android, iPhone or Blackberry so you can take it with you wherever you go.

We all need to learn to play new games and partake in cognitive activities according to the main outcome measured in this most recent study.  These activities consisted of reading, writing and playing games.  The study participants comprised of 65 healthy older individuals, (average age 76), 10 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (average age 75), and 11 young controls (average age 24.5) were studied from October 31, 2005, to February 22, 2011.

The participants answered questions about how often they engaged in stimulating mental activities throughout their lifetimes. They also got PET brain scans which can identify beta-amyloid deposits. Those deposits are found in the brains of people who have Alzheimer’s.  University of California-Berkeley research scientist Susan Landau says the study showed a link between the quantity of deposits and the lifetime level of brain stimulation.

Aging and a family history of Alzheimer’s are both considered risk factors, but we can’t control those. And even if your brain hasn’t been particularly active up until now, Landau says it’s not too late to start ratcheting up your mental activities.  “I think that cognitive stimulation is probably beneficial at any age. But, what our findings from this study show, is that the more cognitively active you can be over the course of your lifespan, the better”

The researchers at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, found that people, who engaged in brain-stimulating activities, particularly when they were young and middle-aged, had the least amount of beta amyloid.  “This study suggests that not only does it reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease, but it may affect the pathological process itself,” said Dr. William Jagust, the lead researcher, a professor of neuroscience at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute.  “This kind of lifetime cognitive activity may make people’s brains more efficient. And if your brain is functioning better, it’s possible that would result in producing less of this amyloid,” he explained.

Individuals with greater early- and middle- life cognitive activity had lower β-amyloid uptake.  The research reports a direct association between cognitive activity and β-amyloid uptake, suggesting that lifestyle factors found in individuals with high cognitive engagement may prevent or slow deposition of β-amyloid, perhaps influencing the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

So what are you waiting for?  Now is the time to give your brain and your lifetime a healthy dose of playing games. It will only make you stronger and smarter cognitively.  Try playing something new every day.

I like to challenge myself with a different game from each of Marbles the Brain Stores sections on the brain’s responsibilities.  Currently from the Memory section I love Eye Know and Kwizniac, while I am learning the intricacies of Mind Your Marbles and Mindstein.  Very good for Visual Perception exercise and quite a challenge is Tri-Spy.  My new favorite Critical Thinking challenge is Modus; three games in one and all are worth the time to learn.  Both Kendama and Kapla keep my hand-eye coordination challenged while my two favorite Word Skill products are Pathwords for independent play and Reverse Charades for a fun group activity.  So never stop new learning, your brain will thank you for doing so for a long time.